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New Year’s Resolutions: House Goals

We’ve now lived in our house for over a year (we moved in a week before Christmas last year – mayhem!). After starting renovation work boldly, progress has definitely slowed, however, with the new year approaching, I wanted to reflect on the progress that has been made so far!

Lounge:

Work in the lounge included knocking through the boarded up fireplace (aka ‘the bumblebee tomb’), removing the dado rail (I don’t know why, I just didn’t like it), stripping the textured wallpaper, and then living with it like that for the rest of the year… Maybe 2016 will be kinder to the lounge!

Lounge in Progress

Stripping Wallpaper

On the plus side, I did buy three tester paint pots, and given that they all look pretty much the same colour, I think we can confirm that we’ve found next year’s colour scheme….

Landing and Stairs:

Our house was built in the 1930’s so it has some great features (some good’uns, and some not so good’uns). When we first looked around the house we felt that the landing and stairs could be improved by taking down the solid plaster half wall, and putting in wooden bannisters instead.

Half Wall Before

Half Wall Before

Half Wall in Progress

Half Wall in Progress

Bannisters

Bannisters

Before we changed our minds (the wall was useful for putting your cup of tea on, after all), we ripped it down (so satisfying), and bought some pine bannisters. I really enjoyed this process, as it brought in so much more light, and made the whole landing feel more open. They still need painting though…

Hallway:

When we moved in, the hallway featured tree-bark effect plaster on the walls, so it was really exciting to get them re-plastered to a smooth finish. I wanted to find a shade of grey (neutral enough to compliment the colours in any room it adjoined), but this was much harder than I thought!

Hallway Before

Hallway During

I had been warned that some greys look blue (cold) and others look beige (warm), but the truth is that they all look different in different lights (like the black and blue dress), so we tried about a million tester pots. In the end, we opted for Crown Period Grey Lace – just need to complete the paint job now!

Bedroom:

Within a few hours of moving in, we took up the poo-brown carpet in the bedroom, and removed the built-in overhead cupboards. One wall was covered in cork-board so we took this off, revealing the cute little pig pirate drawing below, and we had the room re-plastered to a smooth finish.

Once re-plastered, we picked a Farrow & Ball paint called Pale Powder, which I love – a calming pale green. The paint was great quality too – a pleasure to stir – so thick! After originally thinking we might be able to rescue the floorboards (delirium), we opted for a pale laminate from Homebase.

Bedroom Before

Alcove before

Bedroom in Progress

F&B Pale Powder

Wardrobe in Progress

We’re currently in the process of building wardrobes (our alcoves are 1cm too narrow for standard width wardrobes), so it’s still a work in progress, but I can’t wait to move back into the bedroom next year, make the bed, fit some white wooden blinds, and do the final finishing touches.

Outside:

The garden was left in a really good condition, so we spent the summer just fixing bits here and there, making deckchairs, and giving the deck a protective coat. We also got an allotment, so enjoyed buying half price fruit brushes at the end of the season to plant for next year’s crop.

Decking Before

Decking After

Strawberry Plant

So that concludes the progress made to date – as you can see, it’s certainly a work in progress, with a lot still to complete! People tell me that you never really finish decorating a house – that there’s always something else to do, and I think ours will definitely keep us busy for a little while longer!

So exciting, Shelley! So cool to see your progress and the banisters look so much nicer! Our kitchen looks a bit worse than your lounge at the moment and I’m going a little loopy about grey paints. Love the F&B shade you chose for the bedroom x